A man lives in a village, and there is a mosque in it that contains a grave, and there is no other mosque; is the congregational prayer excused for him?

The questioner : A man lives in a village, and there is a mosque, and this mosque contains a grave, and there is no other mosque; is the congregational prayer excused for him in this mosque?

The Shaykh : If he knows that it is not permissible to pray in a mosque that contains a grave, and there is no other mosque—as you say—and he is unable to go to a nearby village to pray; then what I see is that it is permissible for him to pray in this mosque; because I believe that the prohibition of praying in mosques built over graves is from the category of blocking the means to harm. If the one who prays knows this ruling and finds an excuse for praying in this mosque, then his case is, in my view, like that of a person praying at a time of dislike, but he does not intentionally pray at a time of dislike. So his prayer is valid if he did not intend it, and there is no dislike in it. Otherwise, if he intended it, it is known that this intention is held against him. Your question is very clear that he does not intend to pray in this mosque, but rather because he does not find another mosque free of a grave. This is one thing. The other thing, in my belief, is that it is obligatory for this person, if he has some knowledge, to spread this issue among the worshippers; even gradually and without causing a commotion such that he raises a problem or fitnah in the mosque. Perhaps Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will benefit the people of the mosque through him, and perhaps with time they will respond; either by building a new mosque if the mosque was built over the grave, or by removing the grave if it was built over the mosque. Is the answer clear? Please proceed.

The questioner : ... ؟

The Shaykh : We do not have this text that you are mentioning, my brother. We have the prohibition of taking graves as mosques. And this prohibition entails matters, as we mentioned in detail in a specific book on this issue, which is called "Warning the Worshipper from Taking Graves as Mosques." So this prohibition entails the prohibition of building a mosque over a grave, and it entails the prohibition of praying in a mosque that contains a grave, as mentioned earlier, and it entails the prohibition of praying toward a grave.
So this hadith and its like contain the prohibition of all these matters. If a man prays toward a grave, and this is more deeply rooted in misguidance and error—to pray toward a grave—but he did not intend to pray toward the grave, then his prayer is valid; because the intention was not to face the grave. This is along with his saying (peace be upon him): . And when 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) saw Anas ibn Malik praying toward a grave, 'Umar said to him: "The grave, the grave." Anas did not understand this word immediately, and he raised his gaze as if he understood that he was saying: "The moon, the moon." So he repeated it to him and said to him: "The grave, the grave"; meaning: beware of the grave, and stay away from the grave. He did not say—the point of this report—he did not say that your prayer is invalid. Then we said what we said earlier after this clarification that the matter—meaning the prohibition of building mosques over graves—is from the category of blocking the means to harm. So if the one who prays is excused, as came in the question; then he is like the one who prays at times of dislike while excused. There is no difference between this and that. But it is upon us to advise people and not to build mosques over graves, and to look: if the mosque was built over the grave; then the mosque is removed, and vice versa.
Yes. Please proceed.